![]() They included a shuttle aft-fuselage, mid-fuselage, the two halves of the forward fuselage-including the cockpit-as well as a vertical stabilizer and rudder, wings, elevons and aft body flap. The spares had been built under a $390 million contract between NASA and its prime shuttle contractor, Rockwell International, in April 1983. Photo Credit: Mike Killian / Zero-G News and AmericaSpace Endeavour pulls up to her retirement home at the California Science Center. On 28 January 1986, just such a catastrophic failure occurred and NASA’s worst fears were realized. ![]() For Endeavour was born from a series of shuttle “spares”, assembled before the loss of Challenger for fleet repairs or, propitiously, to create a new vehicle in the event of a catastrophic failure. By this time, however, efforts were already underway to build Challenger’s replacement, a shuttle initially saddled with the nameless moniker of “Orbiter Vehicle-105” (OV-105). For almost three years, NASA worked to return its now-three-strong fleet of shuttle orbiters-Columbia, Discovery and Atlantis-to nominal operations, before STS-26 brought about a resumption of flights in September 1988. ![]() That despair and those ashes were sown on the morning of 28 January 1986, when Challenger was lost in the skies above KSC, just 73 seconds after launch. As the 25th anniversary of Endeavour’s maiden voyage nears, AmericaSpace pays tribute to this remarkable vehicle a vehicle whose origins came in the ashes of despair and shattered dreams. From the first (and only) three-person spacewalk to the triumphant salvation of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and from the third-longest shuttle voyage ever flown to the first construction mission to the International Space Station (ISS), Endeavour’s stellar, 25-flight career did it all. ![]() Photo Credit: NASAįrom the moment she left Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, on the evening of, to the instant her Main Landing Gear (MLG) kissed the concrete of nearby Runway 15 of the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) for the final time on 1 June 2011, Endeavour enjoyed one of the most dramatic careers of any member of NASA’s Space Shuttle fleet. Endeavour makes landfall under her own power for the final time on 1 June 2011, closing out a remarkable chapter in human space exploration. ![]()
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